Most Customs administrations hire their staff through open competitions, train the selected individuals in the core Customs functions and appoint them to a position in a field office so that they can become acquainted with everyday Customs operations. Some Customs administrations also have a training centre dedicated to the continuous practical training of officers throughout their careers, and a few have even established partnerships with universities to develop and deliver tailor-made educational programmes.

One way in which the WCO has been supporting Customs training capacities is through train-the-trainer activities.[1] A flagship initiative in this area is the Master Trainer Programme (MTP) which was launched by the Japan International Agency (JICA) in 2010 and has been managed since 2018 in cooperation with the WCO with the objective of building sustainable and autonomous training capacity in Customs administrations in key Customs areas.

Behind the idea to create the MTP were JICA experts working with the Customs administrations of Eastern Africa on various modernization projects in the early 2010s who realized that front-line officers’ lack of knowledge and skills was causing delays in the implementation of new processes and was detrimental to the facilitation of the movement of goods in the region. To tackle this problem, they decided not only to develop training materials and conduct ad hoc training, but also to develop a pool of officers able to train their peers on a continuous basis.

The programme was first and foremost designed to focus on core Customs topics such as HS classification, Customs valuation, Post-clearance audit (PCA), rules of origin, and risk management and intelligence analysis (RM & IA). Customs administrations invited to participate in MTP training would be asked to nominate experienced officers possessing qualities that would empower them to communicate knowledge and support learners. Once selected, officers would be trained over a period of about three years on the topics at hand as well as on various training methods. They would also develop their own training materials, tailored to meet regional needs, with the support of experts from Japan Customs and other relevant entities. At the end of the training, using the material they had developed, all participants would be required to conduct a training session during which they would be assessed. Those who passed this part of the selection process would go on to become Master Trainers (MTs).

The first cohort of officers from five Customs administrations in East Africa began their MTP training in 2010. In 2018, JICA expressed its interest in working with the WCO to expand the programme. Once the partnership agreement was concluded, a team was set up within the WCO Secretariat. The MTP was then extended to include 16 administrations in Southern Africa and West Africa in 2018. In 2021, 21 administrations participated in the MTP on Rules of Origin for Africa developed to support the implementation of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

In 2021, the MTP also moved to the Pacific Islands as part of WCO’s initiative on “Small Island Economies[2]” (SIEs). Figure 1 shows the five steps of the MTP on Customs Valuation and HS Classification which was developed for them and was concluded in February 2024. Each step corresponds to a working group (WG).

Today, there are 210 Master Trainers (MTs) in Africa and in the Pacific Islands. MTs have trained more than 57,000 individuals from 2018 to 2024, including officers from Customs administrations and other government agencies, as well as business representatives.

In 2024, MTP training on risk management and PCA was launched for the Customs administrations of the Pacific Islands, and a MTP training on risk management for administrations in Central Asia and the Caucasus. In addition, new training on geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) was provided for the Customs administrations of Western Africa in order to assist them in managing national borders in remote regions. This training was organized in cooperation with the West Africa Security Project (WASP), which is implemented by the WCO Secretariat, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and supported by the German Central Customs Authority.

In line with the WCO’s approach to capacity building, the team in charge of managing the MTP ensures that Customs administrations take ownership of the programme. All participating administrations must nominate candidates that have relevant knowledge and experience, ensure that candidates are able to participate actively in all the working groups and in the intersessional work, be willing to allow candidates to conduct training in other administrations once certified, and report on the activities of their MTs annually. Participating administrations are also requested to inform the WCO Secretariat about their MTs’ efforts to maintain and improve their expertise, the issues and challenges they face and the type of support they need. Post-certification activities for MTs usually include participating in refresher courses.

JICA supports the MTP by providing not only funding but also expertise in programme development and management. Japan Customs makes its experts available for all MTP training activities, while a wide range of organizations have also been supporting the programme over the years, such as the AfCFTA Secretariat, the ECOWAS Commission, the UEMOA Commission, the EAC Secretariat, the COMESA Secretariat, the SADC Secretariat, the OCO Secretariat, the Australian Border Force and the New Zealand Customs Service.

More information
capacity.building@wcoomd.org

[1] To support skill and knowledge development, the WCO has also developed a wide range of online courses, e-learning modules, videos and webinars which are made available to Customs officers via CLiKC!, the WCO learning platform.

[2] The Small Island Economies initiative was launched in June 2018 with the aim of providing the Customs administrations of such economies with tailor-made capacity building and technical assistance that would help them to curb illicit trade and smuggling more effectively, while facilitating trade flows and reducing the costs of doing business across borders.